Jail staffing woes easing

Updated 12:35 am, Monday, October 8, 2012

Bexar Country Sheriffs Department Corporal Robert Rodriguez walks with his K-9, Moka, near the intake area as part of his duties at the Bexar County Jail on Thursday, Oct. 4, 2012.

Bexar Country Sheriffs Department Corporal Robert Rodriguez walks with his K-9, Moka, near the intake area as part of his duties at the Bexar County Jail on Thursday, Oct. 4, 2012.

Photo: Kin Man Hui, SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS

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Bexar Country Sheriffs Department Deputy Garland Moore checks on an inmate at the Mental Health Unit at the Bexar County Jail on Thursday, Oct. 4, 2012.

Bexar Country Sheriffs Department Deputy Garland Moore checks on an inmate at the Mental Health Unit at the Bexar County Jail on Thursday, Oct. 4, 2012.

Photo: Kin Man Hui, SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS

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Bexar Country Sheriffs Department Deputy Manuel Mauricio escorts individuals through the intake area after patting them down at the Bexar County Jail on Thursday, Oct. 4, 2012.

Bexar Country Sheriffs Department Deputy Manuel Mauricio escorts individuals through the intake area after patting them down at the Bexar County Jail on Thursday, Oct. 4, 2012.

Photo: Kin Man Hui, SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS

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An inmate in the mental health unit strolls in his cell at the Bexar County Jail on Thursday, Oct. 4, 2012.

An inmate in the mental health unit strolls in his cell at the Bexar County Jail on Thursday, Oct. 4, 2012.

Photo: Kin Man Hui, SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS

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Bexar Country Sheriffs Department Deputies work with escorting an inmate to visitation from the Special Precaution Unit at the Bexar County Jail on Thursday, Oct. 4, 2012.

Bexar Country Sheriffs Department Deputies work with escorting an inmate to visitation from the Special Precaution Unit at the Bexar County Jail on Thursday, Oct. 4, 2012.

Photo: Kin Man Hui, SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS

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Bexar Country Sheriffs Department Deputy and SERT Team member Louis Estrada works at his desk near the attorney visitation booths at the Bexar County Jail on Thursday, Oct. 4, 2012.

Bexar Country Sheriffs Department Deputy and SERT Team member Louis Estrada works at his desk near the attorney visitation booths at the Bexar County Jail on Thursday, Oct. 4, 2012.

Photo: Kin Man Hui, SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS

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Bexar County Sheriff's Department Deputy Garland Moore relaxes momentarily during a pause in activity in the Mental Health Unit at the Bexar County Jail on Thursday, Oct. 4, 2012. A children's show was playing on a monitor playing in the common area of the unit where an inmate was watching to relax according to Deputy Moore.

Bexar County Sheriff's Department Deputy Garland Moore relaxes momentarily during a pause in activity in the Mental Health Unit at the Bexar County Jail on Thursday, Oct. 4, 2012. A children's show was playing

A Bexar County Sheriff's Office deputy mans his post Tuesday Oct. 3, 2012 at the Intensive Supervision unit of the Bexar County Jail. The Bexar County Sheriff's Office is recruiting detention officers to fill cadet classes approved by Commissioners' Court in August. The new cadets are being trained proactively, in an effort to avoid a staffing shortage Sheriff Amadeo Ortiz says he's been facing for months.

A Bexar County Sheriff's Office deputy mans his post Tuesday Oct. 3, 2012 at the Intensive Supervision unit of the Bexar County Jail. The Bexar County Sheriff's Office is recruiting detention officers to fill

An inmate returns to his cell Tuesday Oct. 3, 2012 in the Intensive Supervision unit of the Bexar County jail after receiving his medications. The Bexar County Sheriff's Office is recruiting detention officers to fill cadet classes approved by Commissioners' Court in August. The new cadets are being trained proactively, in an effort to avoid a staffing shortage Sheriff Amadeo Ortiz says he's been facing for months.

An inmate returns to his cell Tuesday Oct. 3, 2012 in the Intensive Supervision unit of the Bexar County jail after receiving his medications. The Bexar County Sheriff's Office is recruiting detention officers

An inmate receives medication Tuesday Oct. 3, 2012 in the Intensive Supervision unit of the Bexar County jail. The Bexar County Sheriff's Office is recruiting detention officers to fill cadet classes approved by Commissioners' Court in August. The new cadets are being trained proactively, in an effort to avoid a staffing shortage Sheriff Amadeo Ortiz says he's been facing for months.

Officer Gloria Dehoyos works one of the units in the Bexar County Jail Annex, Thursday, December 15, 2011. Three months after Commissioners Court approved a 2012 budget that included losing 100 jail guards through attrition, Bexar County detention officers are now working mandatory overtime to man the 140 posts that guard about 3,600 inmates.

Officer Gloria Dehoyos works one of the units in the Bexar County Jail Annex, Thursday, December 15, 2011. Three months after Commissioners Court approved a 2012 budget that included losing 100 jail guards

Photo: JENNIFER WHITNEY, Jennifer Whitney/ Special To The Express-News

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Officer Gloria Dehoyos works one of the units in the Bexar County Jail Annex, Thursday, December 15, 2011. Three months after Commissioners Court approved a 2012 budget that included losing 100 jail guards through attrition, Bexar County detention officers are now working mandatory overtime to man the 140 posts that guard about 3,600 inmates.

Officer Gloria Dehoyos works one of the units in the Bexar County Jail Annex, Thursday, December 15, 2011. Three months after Commissioners Court approved a 2012 budget that included losing 100 jail guards

Photo: JENNIFER WHITNEY, Jennifer Whitney/ Special To The Express-News

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Officer Tammy Johnson, who has worked at the jail for 11 years, deals with a resident from the observation center inside one of the units in the Bexar County Jail Annex, Thursday, December 15, 2011. Three months after Commissioners Court approved a 2012 budget that included losing 100 jail guards through attrition, Bexar County detention officers are now working mandatory overtime to man the 140 posts that guard about 3,600 inmates.

Officer Tammy Johnson, who has worked at the jail for 11 years, deals with a resident from the observation center inside one of the units in the Bexar County Jail Annex, Thursday, December 15, 2011. Three

Photo: JENNIFER WHITNEY, Jennifer Whitney/ Special To The Express-News

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Officer Tammy Johnson, who has worked at the jail for 11 years, guards one of the units in the Bexar County Jail Annex, Thursday, December 15, 2011. Three months after Commissioners Court approved a 2012 budget that included losing 100 jail guards through attrition, Bexar County detention officers are now working mandatory overtime to man the 140 posts that guard about 3,600 inmates.

Officer Tammy Johnson, who has worked at the jail for 11 years, guards one of the units in the Bexar County Jail Annex, Thursday, December 15, 2011. Three months after Commissioners Court approved a 2012 budget

Photo: JENNIFER WHITNEY, Jennifer Whitney/ Special To The Express-News

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Officer Tammy Johnson, who has worked at the jail for 11 years, guards one of the units in the Bexar County Jail Annex, Thursday, December 15, 2011. Three months after Commissioners Court approved a 2012 budget that included losing 100 jail guards through attrition, Bexar County detention officers are now working mandatory overtime to man the 140 posts that guard about 3,600 inmates.

Officer Tammy Johnson, who has worked at the jail for 11 years, guards one of the units in the Bexar County Jail Annex, Thursday, December 15, 2011. Three months after Commissioners Court approved a 2012 budget

Photo: JENNIFER WHITNEY, Jennifer Whitney/ Special To The Express-News

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Officer Tammy Johnson, who has worked at the jail for 11 years, guards one of the units in the Bexar County Jail Annex, Thursday, December 15, 2011. Three months after Commissioners Court approved a 2012 budget that included losing 100 jail guards through attrition, Bexar County detention officers are now working mandatory overtime to man the 140 posts that guard about 3,600 inmates.

Officer Tammy Johnson, who has worked at the jail for 11 years, guards one of the units in the Bexar County Jail Annex, Thursday, December 15, 2011. Three months after Commissioners Court approved a 2012 budget

Officer Stacey Thompson works on disciplinary reports from an incident involving two combatives at her desk inside one of the units in the Bexar County Jail Annex, Thursday, December 15, 2011. Thompson, whose husband also works at the jail, has trouble juggling the extra hours with children at home. Three months after Commissioners Court approved a 2012 budget that included losing 100 jail guards through attrition, Bexar County detention officers are now working mandatory overtime to man the 140 posts that guard about 3,600 inmates.

Officer Stacey Thompson works on disciplinary reports from an incident involving two combatives at her desk inside one of the units in the Bexar County Jail Annex, Thursday, December 15, 2011. Thompson, whose

Photo: JENNIFER WHITNEY, Jennifer Whitney/ Special To The Express-News

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Officer Stacey Thompson works on disciplinary reports from an incident involving two combatives at her desk inside one of the units in the Bexar County Jail Annex, Thursday, December 15, 2011. Thompson, whose husband also works at the jail, has trouble juggling the extra hours with children at home. Three months after Commissioners Court approved a 2012 budget that included losing 100 jail guards through attrition, Bexar County detention officers are now working mandatory overtime to man the 140 posts that guard about 3,600 inmates.

Officer Stacey Thompson works on disciplinary reports from an incident involving two combatives at her desk inside one of the units in the Bexar County Jail Annex, Thursday, December 15, 2011. Thompson, whose

Photo: JENNIFER WHITNEY, Jennifer Whitney/ Special To The Express-News

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Officer Stacey Thompson works on disciplinary reports from an incident involving two combatives at her desk inside one of the units in the Bexar County Jail Annex, Thursday, December 15, 2011. Thompson, whose husband also works at the jail, has trouble juggling the extra hours with children at home. Three months after Commissioners Court approved a 2012 budget that included losing 100 jail guards through attrition, Bexar County detention officers are now working mandatory overtime to man the 140 posts that guard about 3,600 inmates.

Officer Stacey Thompson works on disciplinary reports from an incident involving two combatives at her desk inside one of the units in the Bexar County Jail Annex, Thursday, December 15, 2011. Thompson, whose

Photo: JENNIFER WHITNEY, Jennifer Whitney/ Special To The Express-News

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Officer Stacey Thompson works on disciplinary reports from an incident involving two combatives at her desk inside one of the units in the Bexar County Jail Annex, Thursday, December 15, 2011. Thompson, whose husband also works at the jail, has trouble juggling the extra hours with children at home. Three months after Commissioners Court approved a 2012 budget that included losing 100 jail guards through attrition, Bexar County detention officers are now working mandatory overtime to man the 140 posts that guard about 3,600 inmates.

Officer Stacey Thompson works on disciplinary reports from an incident involving two combatives at her desk inside one of the units in the Bexar County Jail Annex, Thursday, December 15, 2011. Thompson, whose

Photo: JENNIFER WHITNEY, Jennifer Whitney/ Special To The Express-News

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Jail staffing woes easing

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The day in 2008 when Bexar County sheriff's Sgt. Marquita Hunt saved an inmate's life began like any other regular day on the job.

While at the Bexar County Jail Annex supervising female inmates, she saw a woman hanging from a bedsheet.

The officer loosened the noose and lifted the inmate over her shoulder. The woman, who was overcoming an addiction, vomited on Hunt's back before Hunt placed her on a mattress. It wouldn't be the last time they would encounter each other.

“For me, that was a proud moment,” Hunt said last week. “She's a human being. She's somebody's mother, somebody's daughter.”

Sheriff Amadeo Ortiz hopes the cadets will alleviate staffing shortages that ran up the cost of overtime and housing inmates elsewhere, causing him to overspend his budget by $1.5 million.

Last year, the Commissioners Court, seeing the jail population declining and looking for ways to save money, decided to cut 100 officers at the jail through attrition. Still, Ortiz opposed the cut and said supervisors were forced to require officers to work overtime, even going so far as to mandate at times that they stay for two back-to-back eight-hour shifts.

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With the jail staff trimmed by 100 positions as of May, the department again can replace deputies as they retire or resign.

The new cadets are “a light at the end of the tunnel,” Ortiz said. “Vacancies were increasing, because people were leaving, and we were short. We've now gotten authorization to hire as quickly as we can.”

County Commissioner Kevin Wolff said the size of the jail staff “is now closer to where we think it should be, but we don't want it to drop below that. This is in anticipation of historical turnover rates, and it's a number that we think we'll be able to keep staffed but not overstaff the jail.”

About 10 officers have been leaving every month, but this summer, inexplicably, 14 left in less than two weeks, said Deputy Chief Mark Thomas, who oversees the jail.

It takes 10 weeks for officers to go through the course, and 21 cadets in the first class joined the ranks at the jail last week, Thomas said. Commissioners on Aug. 17 approved 50 new cadets, County Manager David Smith said, and a class of at least 33 will begin today.

Entry-level salaries are $30,888, said Joel Janssen, president of the Deputy Sheriff's Association of Bexar County.

“We're ecstatic about the new cadets, because they're projecting losses and filling the spots before, so we're not in crisis mode again,” he said.

Officers are contractually obligated to work overtime, and Thomas said he's disciplined six officers who refused to stay after their first shift, each receiving a five-day suspension.

“Nobody wants to work overtime, but that's the situation that we're in,” Thomas said. “Those officers were told they had to work, and they refused. That's something that can't be tolerated.”

Some officers don't mind the overtime, or the time-and-a-half pay. Others, especially those near the 20 years of service needed to retire, tolerate it.

But complaints about the overtime have been frequent, Thomas said. Two-year veteran Joshua Casarez, 25, recently voiced his concerns to the commissioners.

“When they tell you that you have to stay, you don't have a choice,” he said. “Maybe I didn't bring enough to eat, or get enough sleep the night before. The work gets strenuous when you deal with inmates and their problems, and sometimes, I'm not fully focused.”

While Wolff acknowledges that Ortiz has a complicated challenge, he still maintains that the sheriff — who's running for re-election against Republican Susan Pamerleau — is mismanaging the jail staff. Ortiz disagrees.

“With the shortages, I have two options, and both of them are bad: House inmates out, or use overtime,” Ortiz said. “If everything was perfect, we wouldn't have to have mandatory overtime.”

To alleviate manpower stresses over the long term and to determine what jail staffing should be, the Sheriff's Office and the county have formed a committee, and a third party will evaluate staffing needs.

Over the past three years, the inmate population has declined by 17 percent; this week, there were about 3,800 inmates in the jail, which has a capacity of 4,563 beds.

County Manager Smith thinks 830 guards are enough to supervise 4,200 inmates. But because of inmates' gang affiliations, Ortiz said, staffing calculations must include a 10 percent contingency to keep rivals apart.

A detention officer's job is stressful. Many work among about 40 inmates in pods, often with just one co-worker.

Officer Garland Moore, a five-year veteran, works in the mental health unit, where male inmates who are mentally unstable are sent temporarily.

During Moore's shift, the music of Al Green often fills the unit's air, which smells of vanilla and spice from a wickless candle he burns.

“It keeps me calm and mellow. Regardless of what's going on out there,” he said, motioning to the unit's metal doors. “I've got to stay calm and make it on my own.”

The ideal cadet, Sgt. Hunt said, has good communication skills, which are necessary to talk to inmates from all walks of life, and common sense. Candidates apply online and must pass written and physical tests, but a big hiring hurdle is a polygraph test.

Ortiz said he'd prefer candidates be honest about minor transgressions than lie because officers depend on teamwork and trust.

“You have to rely heavily on each other,” said Hunt, who was hired when she was 19. “None of us have an ‘S' on our chest. You're my eyes and ears, and I'm yours. But it can be rewarding, too.”

In 2008, Hunt received a Lifesaving Award from the county for helping the suicidal inmate, but equally meaningful, she said, were comments from the inmate herself.

“I've seen her since: She approached me and thanked me,” Hunt said. “She's glad that she is still around for her family.”